


Dog Thing

by OTTSTF



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: More characters to come, More everything to come, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-08-11 00:16:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16465037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OTTSTF/pseuds/OTTSTF
Summary: The dog thing. In the woods. Everyone's seen it.A nightmare they all thought of as over returns to haunt them, months later.Unlikely companionships are formed, and a mission is set.





	1. Dog Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Place your bets: How far will _this_ one get before writer's block takes it and throws it into the pit of no recovery?
> 
> This is kind of a reboot of an older story of mine - I'm just not overly happy with the way I took that one so quickly, so here we have this.  
> I did want to put a bit more meat into this first chapter, but eh. It is what it is.

Just another normal school day. Nothing out of the ordinary; not at all. All periods through with, piles of homework in bags. The party is formed in the locker hall to begin heading to the Wheeler house, where Chief Hopper had dropped _Jane_ off for a tutoring day with Nancy.  
(Neither of them will get used to using her birth name. As much as she likes it, it remains too foreign to her and Mike alike).

Walking through the hall, talking about how rubbish their last periods were, just like any other day-

“I bet you nerds had something to do with it, didn’t you?”

They all glance in the direction that the hostile voice came from. Finding who it is, practically all of them roll their eyes.  
James. Troy’s goon.

“Excuse me?” Max pipes up, glaring at the crowd of boys which stare at them.

“You know what he’s talking about!” another one of them states.  
“Everyone’s seen it!”

“Seen what?” Mike groans, expecting something completely stupid.

“The dog thing? In the woods? God, are you guys serious?” James laughs.

“… dog thing?” Mike’s eyes widen.

“Of course they haven’t seen it, idiot. They’re always stuck in that stupid room of theirs, playing with their nerd toys.”

“What dog thing!?” Max shouts to pull their attention.  
“What does it look like?”

“A bit like your boyfriend.” Another one laughs, pointing toward Lucas, who rolls his eyes.

“I swear to god assholes, if nobody tells us what the hell you’re talking about, my skateboard is going over your heads one by one!” Max threatens.

“Woah, okay red! Calm down!” James waves his hands up in mock surrender.  
“Imagine a dog. Then imagine a flower.”

_All_ of them glance at each-other already. Their hearts are pounding in their throats as they wait for James to finish his description.

“Now put a bunch of teeth inside that flower, and make it the dog’s head.”

_Shit._

“There. You have the dog-thing.”

“Where is it?” Mike mumbles. Before anyone even has the chance to say anything, he repeats himself, much louder.  
“Where the hell is it!?”

“What, you want to keep it for a pet?” One of them laughs. “Not gonna work, it’s dead, idiot.”

This time, Max raises her skateboard for real, taking a step towards them.  
“Where is it!?”

“Jesus Christ… in the woods, about that way.” James points.  
“Go, go have your nerdgasm all over the thing. Whatever it is.”

Before he’s even done talking, the party in its entirety, minus Jane, are out of the building and rushing for their bikes.

“We need to get Hopper.” Dustin declares.

“ _And_ El.” Mike adds, glaring.

“Yeah, Mike.” Dustin’s eyes roll. “And El.”


	2. Bad Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dustin has an idea.  
> It's not a very good one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay Mr. Brain, I like this schedule. Could we keep it, pretty please?

Mike rushes through his front door at record speed – startling both El and his mother; the former on the sofa, watching TV, whilst the latter is in the kitchen, preparing dinner.

“Michael!” the lady calls, glaring.   
“El being here does _not_ give you an excuse to barge in like that!”

Panting, Mike rolls his eyes at his mother’s comment. “It’s _not that._ ” he states. Eyes finding El, he attempts to catch some breath before clarifying,  
“I mean, of course, I’m excited to see you. But…” he huffs, falling onto the sofa beside El.

“Mike, calm down.” El tells him, before placing a kiss onto his cheek that gets him smiling like a fool.  
“What’s wrong?”

It’s then that the others come barging through the door; Mike having left them behind to preferably get the issue out of the way before the crowd arrived.

“El, we need your brain.” Dustin announces.

“My… brain?” She questions, furrowing her eyebrows towards the filtering-in group.

“I told him it’s a bad idea…” Will mumbles, following behind the crowd.

“Basically, we think there’s a Demodog in the woods.” Dustin explains, causing El’s eyes to widen immediately.  
“And we- _well,_ I thought it’d be a good idea if you could-”

“NO!”

He’s interrupted by both El and Mike, who are now both on their feet, looking beyond angered at the mere thought of what Dustin was going to say.

“That is _not_ a good idea!” Mike exclaims, his fists clenched tightly as if ready to defend his words.

“It’s a stupid idea!” El follows, surprising everyone bar Mike; El has never insulted any of them, but Mike knows exactly _why_ she is in this situation.

“Why is it stupid? You can find whoever or whatever you want, just by thi-”

“No.” El states, visibly becoming angrier by the second.

“Dude, I think you’d better listen to her.” Lucas suggests, eyeballing the expression on El’s face.  
“She looks like she wants to break your neck.”

Dustin finally pays note to El’s glaring eyes, and sighs.  
“Fine, but seriously, what’s so wrong with it?”

Mike looks to El in question for a moment, who sighs and nods her head, telling Mike what he’s about to do is okay.  
With a deep breath, he warns, “If you start asking questions, I’ll kill you.”

“Fine…” Dustin nods.

“Before she escaped the lab, El was being forced to find people in the void.” Mike begins.  
“Brenner was using her to spy on Russians for a bit, but one day, she, I dunno, kinda… slipped, I guess? She lost who she was watching, and somehow found the Demogorgon.”

All of the party are listening carefully, understandably deep in thought as Mike tells El’s story. He notices, behind them, even his mother has stopped what she was doing to listen in to his talking. He sighs, accepting that he can’t exactly shoo her off.

“Brenner got all excited over it when he heard it through the speakers. So the next day, he _made_ her find it.”

“Asshole.” Max comments, earning a collective nod from everyone else.

“He told her that it was calling out to her, that it wanted to find her, too. He told her to _reach out to it._ ”

“And you did?” Dustin asks El.

“I had no choice.” she reminds him, looking annoyed.

“I know! I’m not saying you did.” he clarifies.

“Anyway…” Mike rolls his eyes. “When she found it, she slowly went to touch its back, and…” he sighs.  
“When she touched it, instead of losing contact, like she would with anyone else, it felt it. It spun around and screamed in her face, and… well…” Mike trails off.

“That’s how I opened the gate.” El finishes for him.

“Well shit…” Lucas acts impressed by the story.

“Right… sorry.” Dustin sighs. “But, correct me if I’m wrong; surely if it’s not in the Upside-Down-”

“Dustin.” Will warns from beside him. “Shut up.”

“I will _never_ search for anything from there. Ever. I don’t care if it’s dead or alive, here or there. I don’t care what you need, or want, or say, I am never doing it.” El declares.

“Nobody’s going to ask you, El.” Mike promises, taking one of her hands in his, before glaring at Dustin. “ _Right?_ ”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry. It was a dumb idea.” he agrees.

“You know what I think?”

All eyes suddenly snap to the source of the new voice – Mike’s mother.

“I think we need to get Chief Hopper involved, if there’s another one of those _things_ out there.”

“That was the idea, mom.” Mike assures her.

“Good, because I don’t care if your girlfriend has superpowers. I don’t care if she’s there to protect you through anything. I _never_ want any of you going through that stuff without us ever again. Understand?”

“ _Mom!_ ” Mike insists, cringing. “I _literally_ just said that’s the idea!”

“Right, well I’m calli-”

“No, no you’re not.” Mike catches her before she completes her sentence.  
“You do _not_ talk about any of this over the phone. _Ever._ ”

She glares for a moment, before nodding in realisation.  
“Okay, but you’re going straight to Hopper.”

“Yes, mom. We are.”

“Thank you, Mike.” she sighs in relief.  
“And, if there really is another one out there, just be careful, okay? Don’t go hunting them down, please.”

“Mom, if there’s more out there, we need to find and destroy them all.”

“ _You_ shouldn’t be doing any of that. It’s Hopper’s job to get himself and the rest of the police force onto that.”

“The more that know of the Upside-Down, the more danger we’re all in.” El tells Karen.  
“Do you remember how paranoid he was about us telling you anything?”

“Yes, but surely his own colleagues can be trusted?” she questions.

“ _Nobody_ can be trusted. Not with this.” Mike won’t allow for argument.

The woman sighs. “Fine, fine. Just, for goodness sake, be careful.”

“Mom, we’re still here after everything that’s happened.” Mike reminds her. “Any Demodogs or whatever is out there _should_ be dead, ever since the gate closed.”

“ _Should_ be.” Will emphasises. “What if they never _died,_ but just became… unconscious? What if they could wake up?”

“ _Please_ don’t put that idea into my head.” Max begs.

“I hope not.” El sighs. “I thought it was all over. I just want it to be over…”

“We all do, El.” Mike sighs, leaning into her both to provide, and for comfort. “It should be over. Just a bit of a cleanup job, I suppose.”

El sighs, nodding. “I guess.”

“Alright, so, next stop: Hopper?” Dustin questions.

“To Hopper.”


	3. Search Commence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally coming to terms with the need of their search, the party come across something completely unexpected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, the notes document for this puppy is building.

The day had been going so well. El had been dropped off at the Wheelers’ for her tutoring with Nancy, he’d gone to the station, and, somehow, his workload had been minimal. Strangely enough, he’d been in a good mood.

Then he’d heard the news.

Now? Now he doesn’t know what to think.

More Demo-Dogs. Scrambled around, possibly even outside Hawkins if some of them got that far out before the gate’s closure.

He should’ve expected it, really. They weren’t exactly limited to the tunnels prior to their attack against the gate, so it seems pretty obvious now that there would be dead dead demo-bodies around.

But, still. Extra work, especially when at all related to the Upside-Down, is enough to make any man depressed.

What’s worse?

“And you’re telling me you don’t know exactly where this thing is?”

“They just pointed us in a direction.” Max tells the man. “Literally left us completely open.”

“God damn it.” Hopper sighs, running a hand over his face as he contemplates their next course of action.

“They shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.” Dustin supposes. “If they’re dead because of the gate, we don’t need to worry.”

“That is not an excuse for you to go finding them.” Hopper insists seriously.  
“I swear to god, if I find out any of you have gone looking for one, I’ll wrap Harrington’s bat around your neck myself. Do I make myself clear?”

Their eyes wide, more so in shock than fear, they nod. “Understood, captain.” Dustin salutes.

Hopper huffs. “That’s Chief, to you.”

  


After some more discussion and decision making, one conclusion was met: Both Hopper and Mike alike hate the idea of El being the only “weapon” they have against any possibility of living Demo-Dogs. So, after some encouragement from Dustin, they end up pulling yet another face into the mix.

“You little shits just _had_ to go finding more of them, didn’t you?” Steve complains. “We couldn’t just be done after the shitshow that last year was; now we’ve gotta clean up the leftovers?”

“We can’t just leave them out there for others to find.” Mike tells him, sounding annoyed.

“So that means _you_ , a bunch of kids, need to keep getting involved with them?” Steve runs a hand over his face. “Hell, _I’m_ too young for this shit! You guys should still be playing with Lego, not fighting off aliens from other dimensions!”

“Steve.” Dustin reaches up to pat his shoulder. “As much as we’d love to be the kids we once were, we’re not going back to that. We’re the only ones who know of the Upside-Down, and it needs to stay that way.”

“Well that’s obviously not the case any more if your local school shitheads are talking about Demo-Dogs.” Steve argues, causing Dustin to pause for a moment as he reflects on that.

“Okay, good point.” Mike butts in. “But that doesn’t mean we should just leave it for more to find.”

Steve sighs, trying his hardest to not lose himself in anger. “I wish I’d never taken that damn bat.”

 

* * *

  


Walking through the woods, everyone’s spinning their heads as fast as possible, checking over every square inch for any signs of the Demo-Dog’s location.

“I swear to god, if you shits have lead me out here for nothing, I’ll be smashing one of your heads in instead.”

“We need to check.” El glares, not allowing for argument, before her eyes falter to the floor. “I want this to be over, too.”

Seeing her expression fall to this sadness, Mike panics and slowly reaches his hand out.  
“Hey.” he summons her attention, then taking her hand in his once she’s looking to him, as to not startle her.  
“It _is_ over. It has to be, right? You closed the gate; they’re dead. They’re just bodies. Right?”

She sighs, her gaze faltering again before looking back to him.  
“I hope so…”

“Hey.” Hopper lays his hands on both of their shoulders, causing their attention to snap to him.  
“Even if they’re not just bodies… we handled them before. We can do it again.”

“Especially now.” Dustin joins. “Their hive mind is gone, right? If they’re alive, they can’t talk to each-other. If there’s more than one, they’re alone. We can deal with them one at a time.”

“That’s a good point.” Lucas agrees. “One on its own, against all of us? It doesn’t stand a chance.”

El contemplates this, and eventually nods her head.  
“I suppose you’re right.” she smiles.

  


Browsing the woods, all of them are slowly becoming impatient as they fail to find anything.

“This is bullshit!” shouts Dustin, about to complain more, before the sudden sound of a twig snapping distracts them all.

“Shit…” Max hisses, worrying the worst.

Steve, slowly advancing ahead alongside Hopper, with both of their weapons drawn, creep slowly, dreading the moment a Demo-Dog will spring on them.

Except, they do not stumble upon a Demo-Dog. Instead, the source of the snapping suddenly produces another sound.

“Shit!” it shouts, sounding startled. At this, the others rush forward, but come to a stop as they see who is there.

Furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, Mike questions the person in front of them all.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who dat be?  
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Accepting their new guest, the group continues their search for the dreaded beast of hell.  
> Hidden within is a lot more than they bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOT DEAD!  
> God, I'm sorry for the wait. This chapter was started, abandoned, restarted, abandoned, then eventually completed as I've been working in this worthless head of mine to get a worthy chapter out to you.
> 
> At long last, I publish said chapter.

“What the hell are _you_ doing here?” the boy in front of them barks back, looking beyond confused.

“ _We_ have a reason to be here.” Hopper states, knowing that him being the one to insist will likely force an answer out. “So, you explain yourself first, Troy.”

“How the hell is that fair?” Troy complains, throwing up his arms. “They all get to follow you, but I can’t be here?”

“I do _not_ need to explain myself to you!” Hopper exclaims, glaring eyes of warning. “Now speak up before I drag you out of here myself!”

“Alright, fine!” his expression is anything but compliant. He wants to continue complaining – this makes absolutely zero sense – but he knows that arguing with the chief of police is pointless, let alone a bad idea.  
“It’s not like you’ll believe it anyway.”

“Try us.” Steve laughs, rolling his eyes.

The boy sighs, clenching his eyes closed in a cringe as he explains.  
“There’s supposed so be some kind of alien dog around here.”  
He expects all of them to laugh at him, but opening his eyes, he sees the most serious expressions he’s ever seen any of these people wear. And that _scares_ him.

“So you haven’t found anything?” Hopper questions, which is confirmed with a simple shake of the head.

“Alright, well, go home then.”

“What!?” Troy exclaims.  
“I’m not going anywhere!”

“You’ll do as I say-”

“You bring all of these guys out to search for it, but I have to go home? I don’t think so. I don’t care if you’re the chief of police, that’s not how this works!”

“It isn’t safe, kid!”

“Oh, but they’re better suited for the situation?”

“Yes!” Hopper blurts, before realising what that _actually_ implies.

“You say that as if you’ve seen one of those things before…”

“Enough.” Hopper demands. “Do what you want, just stay close.”

There’s a chorus of complaints from behind him, before he raises his voice.

“Enough! This is already stressful enough, I do not need you kids complaining in my ear! Now suck it up and get along!”

With the lack of a response, Hopper assumes nobody is going to argue. Turning back around, he continues walking, with the others – now including Troy – following him.

All of them are keeping eyes on the newcomer, especially El. Mike catches a glimpse of her staring at him with hatred that he’s never seen from her before. Squeezing her hand, which has not once left his since they’d started this journey, he moves to whisper to her:

“You can’t let him know who you are.”

Backing up for a short moment to observe her face, he sees no sign of her gaze laying off.  
“I know you hate him for what he did, but you made him pay for that. Besides… he hasn’t done anything since then.”

She clearly considers his words, before quietly sighing and nodding her head. Mike squeezes her hand again in thanks, returned by her. From there on, she keeps her eyes on Troy much less frequently.

  


They hear a twig snap.

All heads flick to the same direction, with both Hopper and Steve raising their weapons – El preparing herself also.

Moving slowly towards the direction of the sound, with their senses on high alert, they try to prepare themselves for the worst.

Every slight sound has them feeling further unease, and the slightest twitch in the corner of their eye sends their attention swerving. But they maintain their direction. They persist in their heading, and eventually come across the last thing any of them wanted to see.

Laying on its side, rear leg twitching as it struggles to move, they find one.  
A Demo-Dog, emitting such a stench that has all of their stomachs turning as soon as they notice it.

Hopper raises his gun, flicking off the safety as he does so, but before he has a chance to go any further, they’re all bouncing back in fearful shock, as the Demo-Dog moves rapidly.

Not by its own means – not at all. Considering the speed, and lack of leg usage, combined with the completely linear path directly into another tree, at such a velocity that every single bone in its body could be heard snapping by all of them, it definitely didn’t move by its own accord.

All eyes, after staying fixed on the creature for multiple seconds, slowly turn to El.  
No blood indication from her nose, but her expression, her _extremely_ focused gaze on the Demo-Dog, tells them all the obvious – it was her.

“Jesus Christ, it _is_ you…” Troy mumbles in a mix of fear and awe.

Her eyes flicker to him, causing him to physically back up an inch. The anger in her face is well beyond what it previously was – her fists leave Mike thankful that she’d remembered to let his hand slip first, as they clench harder than what is likely healthy.

“Hey.” Mike slowly lays a hand on her shoulder as to not startle her.  
His touch brings her eyes to his, as her expression slowly falters.  
“You did it. It’s dead, you can relax.”

Her fists loosen, her face falls, as does her body eventually, into the arms of Mike.

“I thought it was over.” she cries as her anger turns to tears, soaking the shirt that Mike wears.  
“I just… I don’t want to deal with it all again.”

“I know, El.” Mike holds her tight, one hand on her back and the other in her hair.  
“It- _that_ -, is over.” he states with such demand. “The gate is closed, and it will never open again.”

Mike knows he shouldn’t be saying these things in front of Troy, but he doesn’t care at this moment. He knows the pain that El is feeling with the idea that the Upside-Down isn’t completely dealt with, and so he makes it his priority to reassure her that this is nothing close to what that needed of them.

“I guess… this is just a clean-up job. Some of these things must’ve died before making it back to the lab.” he assumes. “There _was_ a lot of them – I guess they were pretty far spread out.”

She raises her head from his chest, her eyes red and watery, but full of hope from what Mike tells her.  
She nods her head, giving a small smile, which spreads to Mike with ease as he places a kiss atop her head.

“Forgive me for interrupting - “ Troy’s voice suddenly emerges from behind the crowd.  
“But if they’re _dead_ , how do you explain it trying to move?”

Mike’s eyes widen in realisation, as do El’s.  
As if prompted by his question, a sudden gust of wind, combined with an ear-splitting high-pitched squeal, emerge from the creature which is plastered against a tree.

Everyone’s attention snaps to it rapidly, allowing them to witness a cloud of black smoke emerge from the mouth of the creature. Everyone backs up rapidly, El dragging Mike, Hopper standing guard in front of them all, as they watch the particles of their worst enemy fly into the dark sky above.

“What the absolute shit was that?” Troy quietly asks, but he gets no response.

Except for a small sob, followed by loud, rapid footsteps.

They all start chasing the member of their group, who has began running as if their life depended on it.


	5. Support

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not happy in the slightest with how long I've left this.  
> I am so sorry.

Before I could even process what was happening, we were running.

It took me a moment to really work out why – apart from that weird cloud thing that just flew into the sky.  
A head count revealed it. We’re missing one face.  
Will. So I guess we’re running after him.

“Will!”

Sure enough, I’m right, as answered by Mike’s call, followed by everyone else.  
I personally don’t feel comfortable enough to start calling his name out – I’ve only just joined this group, if you could even call me joined at all; I’m pretty sure they all still hate my guts, so I don’t want to start pushing boundaries.

Yes, this is a stark difference from who I used to be. Two years ago, I’d be laughing, calling Will a fairy for running. But… I’m starting to see things from their point of views, now. Aliens, weird cloud shit, and all of them are already familiar with them…

What the hell have they been through?

  


Sure enough, Will’s lost us. _How does he run so fast?_ He shook us off as if we were snails and he were a cheetah; so, to Hopper and Steve’s reluctance, we split into small groups.

Well. I say _we._ I mean _they_. As you might expect, nobody really wants to pair up with me, so ignoring the warnings from the Chief and Steve about how dangerous it could be, how I could get lost and none of them would be able to look for me _too_ , I started searching alone.

It felt like I was walking in circles for minutes on end. Every time I thought I’d heard something, such as a twig snapping, it was completely void of anybody. Honestly, it started to get quite creepy after a while. Dark woods, complete silence minus the ever-growing distant voices.

It was only as I started hearing something else that I pinpointed a location. It wasn’t twigs snapping, for once; instead it was distinctively human. Crying. Hiccups as whoever the source was tried to hold their tears back. There’s only one person that could be.

I’d found him.

And so, slowly, I made my way up to where he was, leaned against a tree, sat on the dirty ground as he held his arms around his upright knees, with his face buried in them.  
I couldn’t understand why he had taken such a turn – sure, this is kinda scary and perhaps for some overwhelming, but considering the others are absolutely fine, why did this affect Will so much?

Was this something to do with his whole “death” two years ago?

There’s only one way to find out, and so, hesitantly, I spoke his name.

“Will?”

He didn’t move, but instead mumbled into his knees; his voice barely making it out.  
“Not now, Troy.” he demanded with such distaste that I couldn’t blame him for. He probably thinks that I’ve come to take advantage of the opportunity; taunt and torment whilst the others aren’t here to see. Maybe two years ago, but not now. Not now I’ve seen whatever the hell all this is.

“Will, come on. They’re all worried about you.”

“What do you care?”

Honestly, I didn’t know, but I knew I did, now that I’d seen the crap they’ve previously dealt with. They’ve never needed or deserved my bullshit, and I understand that now.

“They know I’ll be fine anyway. I’ve survived the other times.”

_Other_ times? Jesus Christ, what  _have_ they been through?

“Just leave me alone.”

I shook my head slightly, despite his obvious lack of ability to see it. Instead I placed my back against the same tree he leaned on, and slid down onto the ground. I was at a ninety-degree angle to Will, so not close enough to make things awkward or uncomfortable, but close enough to communicate properly.

“What’s wrong? What’s gotten you like this, man?” I ask, hoping to gain some insight into the situation other than what I’d seen.

“Did you not see it?” he asks, widening his legs ever so slightly so that his voice is no longer muffled.  
“That big cloud of smoke that had control of the Demo-dog? How it… how it-”

He couldn’t continue as he started to shake violently through his sobs, and honestly, it started to worry me.

“Hey, hey man. You’re fine. It flew away.” I try to say reassuringly.

“It did that last time!” he finally lifts his head, and I see the pain, fear, but also anger in his bloodshot eyes.  
“The time they got it out of me, it went into the sky and we haven’t seen it since! But there it was!”

Information. Too much of it. They got it out of  _him?_

“Woah, okay, hold up.” I request. “They got it out of you?”

His face shifts as he realises what he’d said. Clearly too much, in his opinion.

“Shit.” he groans through the tears still flowing, and once again his face is buried into his knees.

“Hey, Will. Please.” I beg, nearly. “I know I’ve always been an asshole, but I want to help.”

This gets him to lift his head, and he looks at me as if I’d just told him that grass was blue.

“What?” he asks in disbelief. “You want to _help_ me?”

“Listen…” I request, turning slightly so that my side is against the tree.  
“I don’t know what any of this is, okay? I want to understand, but right now, I don’t. I can wait, or you can just leave me in the dark; whatever you all decide. But really, Will. They’re worrying about you and if you leave it for too long, just think of what they’ll all get like, especially like last time you went ‘missing in the woods’”.

He takes that in, and slowly looks to me again. And, eventually, he lifts himself up.  
“You’re right.”

And so, with a sigh of relief I didn’t know I needed, I followed.

I was still not hugely comfortable trying to talk about this stuff, but considering the short distance, and hopefully a small bit of trust built, I decided to try my luck.

“What actually happened last time?” I break the lingering silence.

H e doesn’t respond for a while. I find myself believing that he doesn’t  _want_ to, which I understand, but after roughly half a minute, he does.

“I got captured by one of those things.” he mumbles out, barely loud enough for me to hear.  
“Although, much bigger. Taller than Hopper.”

“Shit…” I imagined such a beast, and it did not seem pleasant at all.

“Yeah.” Will agrees. “I… ran into it on the way home from Mike’s, and… I tried running home but nobody was there. Now that I think about it… I guess that’s a good thing; who knows what it would’ve done with mom and Jonathan if they were home…”

“Well… it didn’t eat you…” I state quite obviously.

“No. It treated me like a… as if I was its _toy_.” he hisses. “It had me running away every hour of the day until I was too weak to even lift an arm, and then…”

I can see his stomach turning as he recalls whatever had happened to him, so I know it’s bad.

“Will, leave it.” I suggest, but,

“It used me as an incubator. I had one of those things growing inside me until I spit it out.”

I freeze. Both physically and in thought.  
An _incubator?_  
He had one of those disgusting things inside him and he threw it up?

What the  _fuck._

“Will…”

“And then throughout the year I was having visions of that place; the world they come from. We all thought it was PTSD, but then in November, we realised that wasn’t the case and I was actually linked to the Mind Flayer. That _smoke thing._ It used me; I was its eyes, I was its slave, and it used me to kill the scientists that were trying to help me.”

“Jesus Christ, Will…”

“And now it’s back, and it’s going to find me again, and…”

He breaks down; I have to catch him before he falls to the floor as his knees give way to his outbreak.  
This may be  _far_ out of my comfort zone, but I hold onto him as he falls apart.

“Will, it’s okay.” I try to comfort him, knowing that it’s most likely pointless.  
“It flew into the air. I’m sure it doesn’t want to capture you again. You know it, you know how to fight it. It’d be stupid if it tried to use you again.”

He looks at he hopefully, and I see that my words are breaking through.  
“Surely now it’ll either stay away, or find someone else to control.” I suggest.

“I wish it could just be gone.” he says, which I nod to.

“Yeah, me too man. Come on, are you good to walk? We really need to find the others.”

“Yeah.” he lets out as a quiet gasp, and so I begin walking him the way I came, with him still leaning against me; and whilst this is well out of my comfort zone, after finding out what kind of bullshit he’s been through, I’m glad to provide any kind of support I can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so starts his turning of person.


	6. New Troy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and El are searching for Will. When El manages to see who's found him, Mike can't help but be full of disbelief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is really rushed, and I have no idea how to feel about it.  
> If I had more hours in a day, I'd proofread, but that's a luxury that doesn't exist.
> 
> If this is terrible, please slap me in the comments.

“It’s back…” Mike mumbles, not to anybody in particular. “We closed the gate, but it’s back.”  
He looks up to El, squeezing her hand in his slightly when their eyes meet.

“How the hell is it back?” he almost whispers. She can see the fear in his eyes, and it beaks her heart. She’s feeling the exact same fear of course, but El being who she is, will always feel as if it is her duty to handle these issues – nobody else’s.

“I don’t know.” she admits. “But it’s _not_ another gate.”

“How can you be su-”

“I just am.” she cuts him off, which she _never_ does.  
“I… I just… I could _feel_ the last gate… it was like… always there on the back of my mind.” she explains.  
“There’s no gate, Mike. I promise.”

Mike searches her eyes for any sign of doubt, but finds only confidence. Confidence which he needs, and as such, he takes and grasps onto it, and nods his head.  
“Okay. Okay, good.”

“Can we take a break here?” she asks him. “I think, now we’re away from everyone else, I’ll be able to concentrate and find Will.”

“Yeah?” he asks, hopefully. “Okay, if you’re up for it.”

She smiles, nodd ing slightly. “Hold my hands.” she asks softly, holding out both of her hands. He’s quick to oblige, knowing that the feeling of their linked hands in this manner helps her calm herself and clear her mind, as it does him (as useless as it is for him, but nonetheless).

She closes her eyes, her stature straightening as she focuses on the one they’re searching for. Mike keeps her hands in his, breathing softly (she also finds the sound of his breathing as a calming tool – to which he’d blushed wildly the first time she’d told him, but he does understand).

The faintest drip of blood begins to appear from her nose; a sight Mike will never be comfortable with as “normal” as it is for her. He hopes she’ll find Will soon, as he’s not looking forward to seeing her strain herself today, at all.

To his relief, her head leans back down slightly, and her eyes open. He quickly drops one of her hands to pull a tissue out of his pocket, passing it to her wordlessly as she comes back to her  _physical_ senses.

“Thank you.” she takes the tissue, wiping at her nose before placing it into her own pocket (‘you can’t just leave bloodied tissues laying around, you’ll scare people’ Hopper had told her previously).

Mike smiles softly, but can’t help but see the confusion in her face.  
“What’s wrong?” he asks. “Did you find Will?”

“Yes.” she nods her head, letting Mike breathe a sigh of relief. That’s when her eyes scrunch as she tells him the next part:  
“He’s with Troy.”

“Troy?” Mike’s eyes widen. “What’s Troy doing? Is he hurting him?” Mike immediately shifts to anger. “Now, of all times, what the hell is wrong with him-”

“Mike, no.” El stops him, grabbing his hand again to stop his fury from building.

“No?” he questions. “What’s he doing then?”

She sports a smile now, a genuine one as she opens her mouth to tell him.  
“They’re walking back to us. Troy’s helping Will stay calm, and he’s bringing him back to us.”

Mike is dumbfounded. He stands there staring in disbelief for a moment. Troy? Helping Will?  
“You’re… serious?”

She doesn’t need to speak to answer. She just gestures a head nod in a direction behind Mike, silently telling him to turn.

He does so slowly, and his disbelief is erased as he sees them both. Will, leaning against Troy, who is slowly leading him in their direction.

As if aware of the two pairs of eyes on him, Troy looks up and finds them both. A look of relief shoots over his face, and he’s soon whispering to Will.  The latter boy looks up then, and finding Mike and Will, he looks immediately relieved. It doesn’t take long before they’ve closed the gap between them, and Mike is grabbing Will, pulling him into a hug.

“Goddamnit Byers, please, don’t do that again!” he begs. “We’ve been so worried!”

“I know, guys.” Will whispers, “I’m sorry.”

“I understand, Will.” Mike promises. “But we’re safer together, as a team, right? You’ve got to remember that.”

“I know, Mike. I’m sorry, I just… lost it. Seeing that thing again-”

“Hey, I know.” Mike pats his shoulder. “It went into the air, like last time. Maybe… maybe it’s not the same chunk that came… out of you.” he quietens down at the last part, not fond of talking about that.

Will considers this, and nods, hopefully. “Maybe you’re right.”

A moment later, El’s turn to hug Will tight has started, giving Mike the chance to talk to Troy.  
“Troy…”

“Don’t mention it, Wheeler.” Troy automatically answers, awaiting the barrage of ‘what’s your plan’ and similar assumptions.

“No, Troy. Seriously.” Mike demands. Troy sighs, letting his attention focus on Mike.  
“I don’t know what’s gotten over you, but…” Mike takes a moment, reflecting on the things going through his head, before raising his hand.  
“Thank you.” he says, hoping that Troy will accept the gesture and shake his hand.

Troy eyeballs the hand held out to him for a moment; his gaze bouncing between the hand and Mike’s face, as if judging whether it’s a genuine gesture or he’s about to pull it back as soon as he goes to take it.

He slowly raises his hand, and it eventually finds Mike, in their first handshake ever.  
“I never thought I’d be shaking  _your_ hand-” Mike comments, “but thank you. So much.”

“It’s cool, Wheeler.” Troy states, before admitting his new knowledge. “Will told me everything about what happened to him in ‘83 and ‘4. The… Demo…gorgon, and the slug he spat out, and the visions…” Troy stops himself from rambling on.  
“It sucks, man. I couldn’t just… I mean, I wasn’t going to just leave him there anyway, but…”

He pauses for a moment, clearing his head.  
“I’ve realised how much of a dick I was, to all of you guys, but to Will especially.” he admits.  
“And after hearing what Will’s been through, I couldn’t bear to think how much worse I made things.”

Mike just listens, still disbelieving of the current situation.  
“And as powerless as the word is… I’m sorry, Wheeler.” Troy finally manages to say.  
“So… whatever you need. I want to try and… make up, I guess, for the hell I’ve put you through all this time. _If_ you’d be willing to let me, of course.”

Mike considers his words, letting them run through his head for a moment, before coming to a conclusion.

“Honestly, Troy.” Mike starts. “You’ve just brought Will back to us after a panic attack. You helped him through it and you brought him back. I think you’ve repaid your debts.

“Don’t be silly, Mike-”

“I’m not, Troy. I’m serious.” Mike tells him.  
“You’ve already helped Will out, and that’s… I can’t thank you enough.”

“You don’t need to, Wheeler.” Troy looks back to Will for a moment, who’s standing with El, talking quietly.  
“Now I know what you guys have been through… I want to help you guys out as much as I can.”

Mike nods his head, smiling gratefully. “We appreciate that, Troy.”

  


Following the conversation, they begin heading back in the general direction that they’d came from. Mike radios the others, letting them know Will is with them and safe, but doesn’t mention Troy – not over the radio. He’d rather let them see this new Troy in person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well? Terrible? With how rushed it is I wouldn't be surprised. 
> 
> First moment of genuine Mileven in this story, too. I was conflicted on what to write before calling it a night; I wanted to write Mileven but didn't know what. [The Journey of Will Byers](/works/17021961/) has left me wanting to write more of Will and Jennifer, but again, I don't know what.  
> So I decided that _perhaps I should update an ongoing story before it becomes neglected again_.
> 
> If you can't tell, I'm freaking desperate for your feedback. As always, I'll love every single bit of it.
> 
> Thanks to you all <3

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, please. The more love (and the more pestering for updates) you beautiful people give, the more urge I'll feel to work on chapters. I _really_ don't want this to go the same way that literally _all_ of my stories do.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Demodogs?! Again?!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16490054) by [CarrieWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarrieWrites/pseuds/CarrieWrites)




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